The White King And The Black King
by Thanos6
Summary: In the fifth installment of the Royalty series, evil comes to Earth. And it's someone they all know...
1. Arrival Of Evil

The White King And The Black King  
  
Hello all. Thanos6 here with the latest installment in the "Royalty Series."  
  
If you don't know what that is, let me give you a rundown. The Royalty Series is my own little series of Dragonball fics. They begin two years after the defeat of Buu. Here's a quick timeline--  
  
"Saiyans On The Road."-- 2 years after Buu.  
"Time Passages."-- 2 and 1/2 years after Buu.  
----"Gohan And Videl's Bachelor Parties"--Takes place during "Time Passages."  
"Tourney Nights."--3 years after Buu.  
"The White King And The Black King."--3 and 1/2 years after Buu. (this fic)  
  
If you wish to read them, that is the suggested order. If you don't want to, no worries; I'll explain most everything that may seem out of place within the story itself.  
  
And now...let the story begin!  
  
***  
  
It was a lovely day on this part of planet Earth. The sky above the large forest was clear of clouds and was a perfectly beautiful shade of blue. It was warm, with a nice breeze.  
  
Like in all stories, there was no better time for evil to arrive.  
  
Above the large forest, electricity--or at least, something that looked like electricity--crackled in the empty sky. Then the crackles took on a shape, one of an ellipse. The blue sky within the ellipse turned blacker than the void.  
  
And a figure stepped through.  
  
The sky returned back to blue, and the crackles disappeared. The one who had emerged lowered himself gently to the ground. He surveyed the surrounding terrain.  
  
"Hmph. Pitiful. I see that here I must have failed. Still, this shall be an easy conquest. Just another simple campaign."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
The figure turned around. Behind him was a log cabin. The door was open, and a man was standing in it.  
  
"What do you wish?"  
  
"I was just wondering whatcha came out here for. I haven't seen much of you."  
  
The one who had arrived from the sky was surprised. "I know you?!"  
  
"Of course you do. I'm Juunanagou. Y'know, Seventeen."  
  
*Damnation. So I still live, apparently. Well, I shall remedy that,* thought the figure.  
  
"I see," is what he said. "Thank you for your time. Here's your reward."  
  
In a flash, he had formed a blast of ki and hurled it at the one who identified himself as Juunanagou. A moment later, there was a huge explosion and the whole cabin was destroyed.  
  
"Well, I got that done. Now it's time to kill myself." With that, he flew off into the sky.  
  
In the forest, there was silence for a moment. Then came the clatter of wood upon wood as something stirred in the wreckage.  
  
Juunanagou rose from what had been his house. He simply stared after the departing figure in a moment, shocked. Then his face contorted with anger. He flew as well, following his attacker as fast as he could.  
  
***  
  
Vegeta awoke. After the typical picosecond of adjusting--and as a trained warrior he needed no more than that--he glanced over at the bedside clock. It read 11:43 AM.  
  
He cursed. That was almost lunchtime. Earth had gradually made him softer, in the past he never would have needed this much sleep!  
  
Frowning more than usual, he walked to the kitchen. No one was there, the reason for which became readily apparent when he found the following note from his wife, Bulma, on the table.  
  
"We're all in the garden room having lunch. Didn't want to wake you. Come on out."  
  
Grumbling, he headed back to his bedroom and put on his fighting uniform, which doubled as his everyday around-the-house clothes. He walked down to the ground floor, where the garden room was.  
  
But calling it a garden room didn't truly do it justice. It took up the entire first floor. Sunlight streamed in through the wide windows. Plants rested on almost every available surface as well as hanging from the ceiling. Miniature cats, dogs, and dinosaurs scampered through them.  
  
He soon found everyone else seated around a large circular table that was filled with food. There was Bulma. There was his son, Trunks, and an older alternate-timeline version of Trunks whom they called Mirai to avoid confusion. There were Bulma's parents, Dr. and Mrs. Briefs (he STILL hadn't learned their first names). There was Yamcha, a semi-rival of his whom he enjoyed needling and who enjoyed needling him. There was Pu'ar, a shapeshifter whom had been friends with Yamcha for decades; they had gotten engaged just last night. There were his fellow Saiyans Raditz, Nappa, Broli, and Turles. And there was Raditz's wife of several months, Iroke.  
  
Vegeta sat down in the empty seat next to Bulma. "I told you never to let me sleep in this late."  
  
She waved him off. "You train too hard as it is, I decided you need the rest. Now eat."  
  
***  
  
Juunanagou raced through the air, thankful that as an android he gave off no detectable ki. It would enable him to sneak up behind his attacker.  
  
Juunanagou was slowly gaining. Up ahead he could see Capsule Corp., approaching in the distance. When they reached it, he put on a burst of speed. Drawing even, he grabbed his attacker by one of the wrists. Before the other man could react, Juunanagou hurled him through the roof of the Capsule Corporation building.  
  
***  
  
As they ate, something crashed through the ceiling, through the table and into the floor. Those who didn't cough spasmodically as they almost choked on their food yelled out "What the hell?!" and leapt to their feet.  
  
Looking angry, an android descended through the path the falling object had left. However, when he saw everyone around the table, he stared in shock.  
  
"What...?"  
  
"Juunanagou? What's going on here?" demanded Bulma.  
  
"But...but...but..."  
  
"Quit stammering, you idiot, and tell us what's going on," growled Vegeta.  
  
"...Just look at what I threw in here..."  
  
Vegeta looked over at it.  
  
As Vegeta rose to his feet. 


	2. Two From One

Gohan sat at his living room table, working on his latest lecture for the class he taught at college; he was the youngest professor in its history. Videl, who had been his girlfriend for several blissful years and his wife for several perfect months, was in the adjacent room. It was a special miniature training room that they had built with money from Videl's father Mr. Satan, world champion martial artists until five months ago when he had been defeated by Vegeta.   
  
He looked up, puzzled. Speaking of Vegeta, it felt like there were two of him. Gohan frowned. Why was he sensing two duplicate ki signatures?   
  
No, wait...they weren't quite duplicates. One was Vegeta's typical ki signature. If he had to describe it in visual terms, he would say it was rather a dirty shade of gray.   
  
The other one, however, would have been pitch black.   
  
Gohan shuddered. The last time he had felt something that purely evil had been when he had fought Buu.   
  
He rose from the table and walked to the training room. He opened the door and entered.   
  
"Hey," said Videl, a bit out of breath. She was bench pressing approximately three hundred pounds. Then she noticed the grim expression on his face. "Is something wrong?"   
  
"Something weird is up with Vegeta. Try and sense his ki."   
  
Videl wasn't as proficient at it yet as he was, so she had to do a bit of concentrating. "What is that?" she asked when she did feel it.   
  
"I have no clue, but I think I should go check it out."   
  
"Want me to come?"   
  
Gohan shook his head. "No, it might be too dangerous. I'll be back soon, hopefully." He gave her a hug, then used Instantaneous Movement to teleport to Capsule Corp.   
  
Videl immediately headed to the nearest bathroom and toweled off. Then she grabbed a capsule. She headed outside to the driveway, where she activated the capsule. It contained a car. She hopped in, activated it, and began to drive.   
  
"Too dangerous, like hell."   
  
***   
  
Everyone at Goku's house was enjoying some of Chi-Chi's superb cooking. Suddenly Goku, Goten and Bardock looked up from their plates.   
  
"What is it?" asked Chi-Chi.   
  
"It's like there's two of his Highness," said Bardock, rubbing his chin in thought.   
  
"But one of them's mean. Well, meaner," added Goten.   
  
"We'd better see what's going on," said Goku as he rose from his chair. "Dad, Goten, you might need to come too. Grab hold." Bardock touched his son's shoulder, while Goten took his father's hand.   
  
"WAIT!" yelled Chi-Chi, but she was too slow. The three of them had already disappeared. She headed to the door.   
  
"Chi-Chi?" questioned Gyu-Mao, the Ox King. "What are you up to?"   
  
"I'll be back soon, dad," she replied as she headed for the car. She got in and began driving to Capsule Corporation.   
  
"Goku, you said all the dangerous things had been taken care of!"   
  
***   
  
"What is that, Dende? It's like there's two of him..."   
  
"That's just what it is, Piccolo," replied Dende as he used his powers as god of the Earth to observe the situation at Capsule Corporation. "Two of him." Although he already suspected the answer to his next question, he asked anyway. "Are you going there?"   
  
"Of course. But first I'm going to see how many senzu Karin has."   
  
As he leapt off the edge of the tower, Dende and Mr. Popo stared after him.   
  
"This is bad," said Dende in a dismayed tone of voice. "No good can come of this."   
  
***   
  
In the northern wastelands...   
  
"Do you feel that?"   
  
"Yes, and I don't like it," said Tenshinhan with a dour look on his face. "One of him is more than enough. I'm going to investigate."   
  
"I'll come too."   
  
"No, Chaozu, you stay here. I'll do this myself. I shall return soon." He patted his friend on the shoulder, then the former student of Tsurusen'nin launched himself into the sky.   
  
***   
  
In the southern islands...   
  
"Is something wrong?"   
  
"I don't know what exactly's going on, but it's like there's two of Vegeta," said Kuririn, sweating.   
  
"Oh, great. Like the world needs another ego that size," replied Juuhachigou, rolling her eyes.   
  
"We'd better see what's going on." He headed into the Kame House, where Kamesen'nin seemed to be concentrating.   
  
"Master, can you--?" Kuririn began, but the old master interrupted him.   
  
"Watch Marron? Of course I will, I won't make much of a difference in whatever's about to happen anyway."   
  
"Thanks." He headed back outside, nodded, and the couple took off.   
  
***   
  
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" roared Vegeta as he grabbed the other version of himself around the throat.   
  
"Get your hands off me," replied the other, and pried Vegeta's grip loose. Before either of them could do anything else, Gohan appeared on one side of the crater, and Goku, Goten and Bardock materialized on another.   
  
"You're ridiculous," said the other Vegeta. "You let Kakarot live? And I will not even ask how Bardock and Nappa and Raditz and Broli and Turles are all here, or who those other fools are. But you are ridiculous."   
  
Vegeta charged up a Big Bang attack and aimed it straight at the head of his doppelganger. "If the next thing you say does not involve who you are, I'm going to annihilate you."   
  
"Very well. I am Vegeta, the King of the Saiyans. But you worthless fools may call me the Hasha no Ankoku--the Supreme Ruler of Darkness."   
  
"But, um, I thought this was Vegeta..." Goku said quizzically.   
  
"Apparently you need the concept of alternate timelines explained to you--"   
  
"No, we understand that all too well," Mirai said in a gruff tone of voice.   
  
"At least you are not total idiots. I come from a different reality. I do not know how things transpired in this one, but in mine, all of us save myself, Kakarot, Raditz and Nappa were killed by Freeza. Raditz and Nappa were then killed here on Earth, and I was repulsed from it. I was then forced to ally myself with Kakarot's son, a Namek, and a human against Freeza. I died, but was revived. Kakarot transformed into a Super Saiyan and defeated Freeza. Afterwards stuck on Earth, I moved into this building."   
  
"That is how events happened here as well," said Vegeta. He was frowning. What had changed?   
  
"A few years later, I achieved the Super Saiyan as well. Determined that Kakarot would be defeated by nothing but the highest of Saiyan royalty, I hunted down the Dragonballs and wished to be transported back to Namek. I then collected their Dragonballs. My first wish was to revive my father. After he passed on the title of King, I killed him. My second wish was for a grand spaceship. My third wish was to revive Freeza so that I could kill him myself. However, the dragon informed me that he was not dead. So instead, I used my wish to determine where he was. I learned that he was on his way to Earth. I boarded my ship and headed to Earth myself. We both landed at approximately the same time. All the weak Earthlings who had sensed him coming had gathered as well. And as if that was not enough, Kakarot returned to Earth!" He laughed in a way that unsettled everyone except Vegeta, who was wondering how this version of himself had achieved the Super Saiyan so much earlier than he.   
  
The Hasha continued. "It was then that I discovered the power of the Saiyan kings--"   
  
"To draw upon the power of all living beings with any Saiyan heritage at all," interrupted Vegeta. "I know."   
  
While the others stared at him in surprise, the Hasha nodded. "Exactly. Using it, I was able to easily slay Freeza and his father, King Cold. Then, while everyone else was celebrating, I slew Kakarot as well. Once he was dead, the others posed no challenge. I proceeded to finish my original mission and wiped the planet Earth clear of humanity. Then I headed back to space and took control of Freeza's empire--and from there, the rest of the universe. But as it turned out, one universe was not enough. So I had my top scientists build a gateway to another universe I could conquer. This one. And now you will all die."


	3. First Offensive

There was silence for a moment. Then Mirai spoke through teeth clenched with rage. "No, you bastard. You won't get this universe. We'll stop you now."   
  
The Hasha no Ankoku chuckled. "Stop me? Do you think you can stop this?"   
  
He let out an almighty scream, and transformed into a Super Saiyan. Still screaming, he went to the second level. Then to the third. His golden hair reached the floor.   
  
"Yes," said Goku. "Both Vegeta and myself are that powerful. Gohan and Gotenks are even stronger than that. We can stop you."   
  
"Oh?"   
  
And he screamed again.   
  
***   
  
Piccolo had just collected the senzu from Karin. Since things had been peaceful the last several years, there had been twenty of the magical healing beans. Now he was continuing to Capsule Corporation.   
  
He was slightly worried. He'd felt that other Vegeta take himself to a level equal to that of Goku and the Vegeta he knew. But, then, Goku and Vegeta were that level. And of course there were Gohan and Gotenks. They should be able to stop him.   
  
Then Piccolo suddenly stopped short in mid-air. His eyes grew wide.   
  
He couldn't be sensing that...he couldn't! That was even greater than Gohan! Far, far greater! And there was something strange about it.   
  
Steeling his resolve, Piccolo continued onwards.   
  
***   
  
Despite his misgivings, Tenshinhan flew on. The enormous power of that other Vegeta felt like an odd composite of many people, as if he was drawing it from several others. But how?   
  
***   
  
Juuhachigou streamed through the air, when she noticed that Kuririn was no longer following her.   
  
Turning around, she noticed that her husband was simply hanging there, wearing an expression of horror and disbelief. She called out his name. He didn't respond.   
  
"Listen," she said after a second, "I'm going ahead on. You follow whenever you get over whatever is giving you problems."   
  
***   
  
Everyone at Capsule Corporation who could sense ki did nothing but stare. All the Saiyans and half-Saiyans got headaches.   
  
Except for Vegeta. He followed the lead of his counterpart and powered to the third level of Super Saiyan. Then he, too, used the special ability of the king and drew on the powers of all the other Saiyans. As he did so, his power grew and that of his counterpart fell until they were exactly equal.   
  
"I see that you have become the King as well," said the Hasha no Ankoku, raising an eyebrow.   
  
In response, Vegeta punched him in the face. The Hasha retaliated by doing the same. Then they rose out of the building, into the sky, and began exchanging a flurry of blows at speeds that the others could barely keep track of.   
  
Using the natural resiliance of children to strange situations, Goten and Trunks were the first to recover. They watched for a few moments as the Vegeta they knew fought the other one, who was wearing full Saiyan battle armor with the royal crest on it.   
  
"Trunks, are we gonna help your dad?"   
  
"You bet!"   
  
***   
  
The two Kings were still fighting. Suddenly, they both felt their power drop quite a bit. Vegeta also felt a very familiar ki rise.   
  
A moment later, a small blur slammed into the Hasha's chin. As the Supreme Ruler of Darkness fell back slightly, the small figure with long golden hair started landing blow after blow.   
  
"Gotenks!"   
  
"Don't worry! I've got him under control!" Gotenks confidently said in that strange dual voice of his.   
  
"No you don't! Get the hell out of the way! You aren't powerful enough!"   
  
Indeed, now that the Hasha had recovered from the initial surprise, he was blocking or dodging all of Gotenks's attacks quite easily.   
  
*Damn those boys! They aren't strong enough to hurt him, and they're in my way! Well...at least I see that he--and I--can't draw power from fusions for some reason.*   
  
"I have had enough of you, little brat!" yelled the Hasha no Ankoku. He punched him so strongly in the gut that the fusion was forced out of the Super Saiyan modes and into his normal black-and-purple haired self.   
  
"Oh, damn!"   
  
"Exactly!"


	4. Escalation

As Gotenks was knocked to the ground, Goku rose to join the battle. Gohan tried to follow.   
  
"No, Gohan! Not yet! Get everyone else out of here first!"   
  
His son nodded, and turned to face the others.   
  
"Nappa, Turles, Bardock, come with me! And all of you grab a civilian! The rest of you stay, you might be strong enough to help! But wait until my dad calls for you or gets knocked out!"   
  
Gohan scooped up Pu'ar, Turles picked up Iroke, Nappa grabbed Dr. Briefs, and Bardock hoisted up Mrs. Briefs. With Gohan in the lead, they flew up through the hole in the roof.   
  
***   
  
The Hasha no Ankoku was now surrounded, with Vegeta on one side and Goku on the other. As the latter also powered up to Super Saiyan 3, he caught a glimpse of Gohan and the others flying away.   
  
The two defenders of Earth made a few motions to one another, then nodded. Suddenly Goku rushed at the Hasha, who dodged out of the way.   
  
And right into an elbow in the gut from Vegeta.   
  
As he caught his breath and tried to dodge both their attacks, he realized their strategy. Kakarot was a decoy, meant to lure him into running straight into the attacks of his counterpart.   
  
But knowing the strategy and being able to counter it were two different things. His instincts kept taking over and forcing him to dodge Kakarot, which would mean that he would then get hit by Vegeta. This pattern continued for several minutes, and the Hasha appeared to be on the ropes.   
  
Then Kakarot ran out of energy, and was forced back into his normal mode. Wasting no time, the Supreme Ruler of Darkness grabbed his leg and started using him as a club on Vegeta. Once Kakarot fell unconscious, the Hasha simply dropped him and began attacking the other king with blurred fists and feet.   
  
***   
  
Gotenks rose to his feet. He glanced over briefly at the unconscious Goku, then flew once again.   
  
"You bastard!" he yelled, charging at the Hasha.   
  
Who whirled and kicked him in the head, knocking him back to the ground again.   
  
***   
  
The others who had remained flew skywards to join the battle, separating the two Vegeta's. The Hasha found himself surrounded by Mirai, Broli, Raditz, Juunanagou, and Yamcha, all of whom had powered up to their maximum.   
  
"Fools. Even together you cannot hurt me!"   
  
"We'll see about that. This is for my house!" Juunanagou charged forward and aimed a kick at his head. The Hasha caught it in his hand effortlessly--   
  
--leaving him open to a punch to the chin from Mirai that rocked him back. Juunanagou used his position to his advantage, firing a blast that connected to his chest at point-blank range. The android wrenched himself free from the Saiyan's grip, retreating back a few feet as Raditz and Yamcha simultaneously unleashed their own ki powers. Broli formed a green sphere of energy in each palm. When he threw them, they homed in on their target and detonated on the Hasha's back.   
  
Vegeta, still getting his breath back, watched in amazement. Had they actually done that?   
  
The smoke cleared to reveal a very angry king.   
  
"HOW DARE YOU?!"   
  
He grabbed Yamcha and Juunanagou and knocked their heads together; as they passed out, he tossed them over his shoulder. Broli and Raditz charged him, but he dodged. Two well-aimed kicks took care of them.   
  
Mirai let loose an immense blast, which the Hasha swatted away. He then dealt him a powerful blow to the side of the neck. As Mirai fell to the ground, the Supreme Ruler of Darkness fired a blast of his own that slammed into Vegeta. The Hasha then flew behind him, put him in a chokehold, and began to squeeze.   
  
***   
  
The first of the other fighters arrived. Some distance away, Tenshinhan used his third eye to observe the fight. When he saw Vegeta in the chokehold, he landed on a nearby building and interlaced his fingers in the pattern of the Kikoho, his most powerful attack.   
  
He began to sweat. Normally it was a simple attack to aim, but the two similar ki's were throwing it off. And he had to have very good aim; he had to hit that other Vegeta without touching regular Vegeta, who was so weak at the moment that the Kikoho might actually kill him.   
  
Of all the other fighters, Tenshinhan had probably accepted Vegeta the least. He held no particular love for him.   
  
But he also had no desire to rob Bulma of a husband and Trunks of a father.   
  
Positioning his hands just right, he concentrated a moment more...   
  
...then fired.


	5. Shattered

"Say goodbye to your life," hissed the Hasha.  
  
Suddenly there was a bright light, and he felt a pain in his side. He let go of Vegeta, who simply hung in midair, and fell to the ground.  
  
Clutching his side, he rose to his feet.  
  
And was immediately knocked down again by the same blinding light.  
  
He rose again, and this time launched himself into the air as well. An explosion detonated where he had been standing. His gaze darted around, until he saw the three-eyed man standing on the roof of a building. He charged at him.  
  
***  
  
Tenshinhan quickly unlinked his hands and placed one on each side of his face.  
  
"TAIYOKEN!"  
  
***  
  
The Fist Of The Sun burned into the Hasha's retinas.  
  
He cursed himself silently. He couldn't believe he had fallen for that! Not after Kakarot had used it on him before!  
  
But he could still sense ki...  
  
Eyes squeezed shut, he flew in the direction of Tenshinhan. The three-eyed warrior rose into the sky, and his opponent turned towards him.  
  
As the pain went away, the Hasha opened his eyes just enough to see, so that he could close them again quickly in case his opponent utilized the Taiyoken once more. However, the three-eyed man had opted instead to try the Kikoho, gambling that he could fire it off again.  
  
He laced his hands together, but before he could fire, the Hasha appeared behind him. With a double-fisted punch to the head, he slammed Tenshinhan through the Capsule Corporation building, creating another hole in the roof.  
  
Descending through it, the king found the man embedded in the floor, bleeding from a wound near his temple and definitely unconscious. Smirking, he raised an arm and prepared to bring it down on Tenshinhan's neck, when from the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of something moving.  
  
Whirling to face it, he saw that it was Bulma, trying to sneak out of the room unnoticed. Once she saw that she'd been spotted, she froze in place. He began to walk towards her, deciding to begin to kill humanity all over again starting with her.  
  
"Any last words?" he said as he stood before her, grinning.  
  
"Die, you bastard!"  
  
She quickly powered up to the third level of Super Saiyan as well. Unable to do anything but gape in shock, he was unable to defend himself as she kneed him in the stomach. As he bent over, trying to take in a breath, she aimed a kick at his head.  
  
Still wheezing, he was able to grab her ankle with his right hand mere inches from his face.  
  
***  
  
On the outskirts of the city, Gohan landed, with Nappa, Turles, and Bardock following suit. They let go of their civilian passengers.  
  
"I'm going to go back and help," said Gohan, placing two fingers to his forehead. "Follow me if you want."  
  
He disappeared.  
  
***  
  
The Hasha no Ankoku charged a ball of light in his left hand, ready to fire it straight through Bulma's stomach. He never got around to it, though, for Gohan chose that moment to appear inches away and punch him directly in the jaw. As he staggered back a few steps, Gohan grabbed him by his hair and tossed him back up through the ceiling, into the sky once more.  
  
"Get out of here," the half-Saiyan snapped at Bulma before taking off after him.  
  
***  
  
Moving so fast as to split the air in front of him, creating sonic booms in his wake, Piccolo arrived at the scene of battle. He took in the situation in a moment, but did not enter the fray. As much as he wanted to, he knew that if he began to fight now, he would simply get in Gohan's way.  
  
Instead, he began to distribute the senzu beans given to him by Karin. The first recipients of the magical healing items were Mirai, Broli, Yamcha, Raditz, and Juunanagou. They were all still unconscious, so he had to bend down, open their mouths and tip the senzu into them.  
  
He stood up. The five had not woken up yet, and probably wouldn't for quite some time. Glancing around, he saw Vegeta-the Vegeta he was familiar with-hanging in the air. The Namek began to fly up to him, but then he heard something. At first it was a small sound, but it soon grew much louder. He was able to identify them.  
  
*Cars. Two of them.*  
  
***  
  
Both Videl and Chi-Chi arrived at approximately the same time. They didn't see each other, for they were too absorbed in watching Gohan fight the Hasha no Ankoku. He wasn't doing so well. After the initial surprise attack, the king had soon recovered and taken the edge in the duel. Even with all of his power, the scholar had been forced to go on the defensive, which wasn't his strong point. It wasn't much longer until Gohan's guard had been penetrated completely, and he was simply taking a pounding.  
  
The two most important women in his life watched in horror as the Hasha lifted him into the air, then brought him down back-first onto his knee.  
  
Even they could hear the loud snapping sound as his spine was broken.  
  
***  
  
Piccolo snarled, angry as he had rarely been ever before. It was almost time to act.  
  
***  
  
The Hasha simply tossed the half-Saiyan on the ground.  
  
"Now you will face me," said a voice in ice-cold tones of rage. He turned to see Piccolo floating there.  
  
***  
  
"GOHAN!" screamed Videl and Chi-Chi simultaneously. Paying no heed to the danger, they exited their cars and sprinted to where he was lying. They bent over him for a moment, wondering what they could do to help him.  
  
Then they noticed each other.  
  
***  
  
"So, it is the Namek. You are nothing next to that pathetic fool, and you saw how easily I dispatched him. I can kill you effortlessly."  
  
"Perhaps, but you will not. You may be far more evil than the Vegeta I have come to know, but you have one thing in common: a huge ego. And that ego is fed only by your power. You know that in an even battle, you would not stand a chance."  
  
"Fool! For those remarks I will not cut you down where you stand! I will prove you wrong and also make your death long, drawn out, and above all, PAINFUL!"  
  
Lowering his ki to the same level as his opponent, he launched himself at Piccolo.  
  
***  
  
"What are you doing here?" asked Chi-Chi, a note of spite in her voice.  
  
"My *husband* told me that he was going somewhere that might be dangerous, and I'd be damned if I let him do that without me," replied Videl. "Why are you here?"  
  
"For the same reasons. Now get out of the way, I need to try and help Gohan somehow."  
  
"What? You?"  
  
"I'm his mother. I've been taking care of him since the day he was born, I know what works best with him," she said in a tone of infuriating calmness.  
  
"That's as may be, but I'm his wife. I love him more than anyone else on the planet and I know quite a few things about him myself. I'm going to help whether you like it or not."  
  
***  
  
In the air, Piccolo was being very careful not to take too much of an advantage. By keeping a cool head, he could have easily started to humiliate the Hasha, but then he would probably get angrier and return to his normal level of power.  
  
So instead, he kept just a minor edge in the high-speed battle. He had a plan, he just had to find the perfect moment to put it into effect.  
  
***  
  
As the two women stared at each other balefully, Gohan moaned beneath them and stirred a fraction. They quickly looked down at him. As they watched, feeling helpless, he began to talk. His eyes were closed, and it sounded like he was mumbling to himself.  
  
"Not again…" he said weakly. "Not again…it's happened again. I have great power, but I can't use it….I choked up against Nappa. I used everything against Freeza too soon. I could have beaten Cell effortlessly but I toyed with him. I let Buu trick me. And now this. Again, again I wasn't enough. But I'm not down…yet!"  
  
He tried to stand up, but found that he was paralyzed from the waist down. So he tried to levitate himself off of the ground. Panicking, Chi-Chi and Videl hurled themselves on him, trying to drag him back to the ground. Apparently oblivious to their presence, he raised an arm and pointed it where Piccolo and the Hasha were still fighting. He began to charge up a ki blast.  
  
And then, mercifully, he at last lapsed into blissful unconsciousness.  
  
***  
  
Piccolo at last maneuvered the Hasha no Ankoku into the position he wanted. The Namek planted both his feet into the Saiyan's side. Using his right arm, he began to pull on the Hasha's own right arm. Before the other could react, he surrounded his left arm in a ki aura and brought it down onto the joint where the shoulder meets the arm.  
  
Severing it. 


	6. Bloodshed

The Saiyan screamed in agony. Blood surged out of his shoulder, staining his once-blue royal cape a horrible shade of crimson.  
  
Wasting no time, Piccolo threw the arm away and landed near Gohan. Gently but firmly, he pushed his way through Chi-Chi and Videl. He picked up the half-Saiyan and examined him carefully.  
  
"His spine has been broken at the hip, and he has been paralyzed from there down," the Namek told the women after a moment. "Senzu beans can't heal this. It will require something more."  
  
Holding Gohan by the collar of his shirt, he stared off into the sky for a few seconds. Then he suddenly hurled him through the sky, until he disappeared over the horizon.  
  
***  
  
Dende was standing on the edge of his tower, observing the battle. Mr. Popo stood behind him, listening to the other's description of events.  
  
"We'll be getting a visitor in a few seconds, Mr. Popo," Dende suddenly said.  
  
Indeed, he had barely spoken when Gohan come shooting through the air, landing just feet behind the pair.  
  
"He's been injured horribly," Mr. Popo told the Namek. "Even your healing talents may take some time to work."  
  
Nodding, Dende laid down the large staff that was his symbol of office. Then, placing both hands above the fallen scholar, he began to make him well.  
  
***  
  
"With any luck, he should be fully recovered and ready to rejoin the battle in a few minutes. Of course, with even more luck, by then the battle will be over."  
  
Piccolo now turned to face Chi-Chi and Videl directly.  
  
"Leave. If you're still here when Gohan gets back, you'll distract him and that's something we can't afford. I recommend flying off to Dende's, you can raise his spirits when he's healed."  
  
"But--but I can't fly!" said Chi-Chi, dumbfounded.  
  
"Well then, Videl will have to give you a ride."  
  
The two women stared at him. It hadn't sounded like he was joking, and besides, that wasn't something Piccolo did that often.  
  
"Fine," said Videl after an instant. "Give me your hands." As soon as Chi-Chi had taken her hands, Videl shot off into the sky.  
  
Once they were out of sight, Piccolo grinned that old demon-king grin. Then he began to distribute more senzu beans. He gave them to Goten, Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta. He began to go inside to Capsule Corp. to give one to Tenshinhan, but then he glanced up at the Hasha.  
  
Somehow managing to still hover, he took his left hand and placed it over the bloody gash. It glowed for a moment.  
  
Piccolo realized what he'd done. He'd used ki to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding. And if he was like the typical Saiyan, he'd be back fighting in just a few more moments.  
  
Looking through one of the holes in the roof, he espied Bulma looking up. Thinking quickly, he dropped a senzu down the hole.  
  
"BULMA! Give that to Tenshinhan!" Without waiting for a response, he flew back to the Hasha no Ankoku. The Supreme Ruler of Darkness looked up from his injury just in time to see the Namek's booted foot slam into his face.  
  
***  
  
Videl flew on through the air, her mother-in-law dangling from her hands. Soon, Chi-Chi began to lose her grip and she had to readjust her hands.  
  
"You know, you could stop for a second and let me get a more stable grip."  
  
"Yep."  
  
"You're not going to, are you?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"First explain your mysterious hatred and loathing for me."  
  
"What if I don't?"  
  
"I could drop you and tell Gohan it was an accident."  
  
There was a pause as Chi-Chi tried to calculate the odds that she was serious. Then, after a moment, she replied, "Fine then. I'll tell you why, if you're ready to hear."  
  
"I am."  
  
"Let's begin at the beginning. At first I didn't think you two actually loved each other."  
  
"WHAT?! Then why do you think we moved in together?"  
  
"I thought that was just so you two could 'enjoy each other's company,' to put it politely. But I was wrong on that point, and I realized it."  
  
"When did you realize it?"  
  
"The night before the wedding."  
  
"You really are insufferable sometimes."  
  
Ignoring her remark, Chi-Chi continued.  
  
"You might be in love, but I still don't think you're good enough for Gohan."  
  
"Gohan seems to think differently."  
  
"Yes, well, he doesn't always know what's best for him. But I do. A boy's best friend is his mother."  
  
Videl burst out into a loud stream of laughter. She shook violently as she did so, struggling to hold on to her passenger. Finally, she managed to recover.  
  
"Friend?" she asked incredulously after she had done so. "Friend? Maybe in most cases that's true, but not here. You're not his best friend. More like his jailer."  
  
"Nonsense! I let him move out and into that house with you, didn't I?"  
  
"Probably only because he had reached the age where even Goku would object to you trying to control his life to that degree. Am I right?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"And do you want to know why we moved in together?" Videl continued.  
  
"Because you're in love, I thought we already covered this."  
  
"Yes, that's definitely a large part of it. But another part is that he simply wanted to get away from you!"  
  
Now it was Chi-Chi's turn to disbelieve. "WHAT?! Get away from me? What are you talking about?"  
  
"He got sick of you trying to control every detail of his life, and quite frankly I don't blame him. He decided to move in with me so he wouldn't have to live with you."  
  
"No! He would have told me if he felt like that."  
  
"Ha. He's told me many things he's never told anyone else, and that's one of them. And here's another one. It may sound mean of me to be saying this, but he loves me more than you!"  
  
"We'll see about that."  
  
***  
  
Piccolo, meanwhile, continued to fight the Hasha no Ankoku. The latter had lost not only much blood but also a massive amount of energy when he lost his arm. And he was still beset by the pain. Not only was the Namek able to fight him solo, but also he appeared to actually gain an edge.  
  
The Hasha retreated away and, with his sole remaining arm, reached into his flexible armor, removing a small device that looked like a calculator. It was, in fact, the gateway summoner he could use to return to his home timeline. He couldn't believe this. Once again he had come to Earth expecting an easy conquest, and once again he was forced to retreat.  
  
Before he could use it, however, the gateway summoner exploded in his gloved hand. Started, he looked up to find Piccolo glaring at him. Then he figured it out. The Namek must have used his psychokinetic abilities to destroy it from a distance.  
  
"Do you have any idea what you've done? Without that I can't return back to my universe! Now I'm trapped on this damned little planet forever!"  
  
"So I surmised. Let you escape and heal and return to wreak havoc on us someday? I think not. Today you will die."  
  
And the two began to clash again.  
  
***  
  
Without their human passengers, Nappa, Turles and Bardock were able to fly much faster on the return trip.  
  
"Look!" said Nappa as the trio approached Capsule Corporation. "There's the Namek!"  
  
"He's holding his own!" Turles yelled in amazement.  
  
"Not just holding his own…he's actually winning!" Bardock said, his eyes wide. As they drew closer, Piccolo felt their ki's. He turned his head around to look at them. The Hasha no Ankoku took advantage of the split-second distraction to unleash a series of savage blows that ended with his opponent laying on the ground, out cold.  
  
"Oops," said Bardock.  
  
Turles looked around. None of those sprawled on the ground seemed to have regained consciousness yet. "It looks like it's up to us to delay him until some of the others wake up," he said. "Everything's riding on us doing that."  
  
"We're all doomed," Nappa muttered. 


	7. Perilous Error

The Hasha looked up at the three.  
  
"Well? Come stop me if you can, though I highly doubt it."  
  
They spread out, forming a triangle around their opponent. After a moment, Bardock and Nappa lunged at him from either side. The Hasha rose to avoid them, and slammed right into the waiting fists of Turles. It didn't really hurt, but it was sufficiently annoying to let Bardock and Nappa also start attacking.  
  
The three rained largely ineffectual blows on their target for a few moments, until an irritated Hasha no Ankoku screamed and used a ki aura to knock them away. Three blows later and they were falling to the ground, unconscious. Snorting in contempt, he raised his hands to prepare a huge energy blast that would kill all the unconscious weaker fighters and seriously injure the stronger ones.  
  
Before he could, however, something slammed into his back, knocking him a few feet forward. He tried to whirl around and see what had struck him, but what felt like seemingly hundreds of blows thrown at super-speed impacted on his back, rotating him around so that he was now being attacked on the front. He was able to get only a glimpse of a blurred figure with blonde hair before the force of the strikes forced his eyes shut.  
  
***  
  
Chi-Chi and Videl continued on in silence until they reached the tower of Kami. As they landed, they saw Dende and Mr. Popo bent over the prone from of Gohan. They quickly ran up to them.  
  
"How is he?"  
  
"He's almost fully recovered," said Dende without looking up. "He should be ready in just a few more seconds. There."  
  
Gohan's eyes opened and he snapped up into a sitting position. "Dende? Mr. Popo? How'd I get here?" he asked a bit fuzzily. Before they could answer, he turned his head and saw the women. He leapt to his feet and clutched Videl tightly.  
  
"Thank heavens you're all right! What's going on?"  
  
"It's not over yet," she responded as she returned his hug. "He's still down there, and I think Piccolo is fighting him alone."  
  
"Alone? How?" Gohan let go of her and closed his eyes.  
  
"Strange…Piccolo appears to be unconscious, Vegeta seems to be in a state of shock or something, and the others are still unconscious as well. But SOMETHING is attacking the Hasha; I can feel him getting weaker. I'd better go check it out."  
  
He gave Videl a slow kiss. Chi-Chi, watching, gritted her teeth.  
  
"I'll be back soon, I promise. Mom, Dende, Mr. Popo…take care of yourselves." With that, he put two fingers to his forehead and was gone. Videl flashed her mother-in-law a nasty grin.  
  
***  
  
The scholar appeared at Capsule Corporation just in time to see the alternate variant of Vegeta get slammed into the ground.  
  
"When I didn't sense any ki, I should have guessed it was you," he said, grinning.  
  
Juuhachigou nodded. "I arrived just in time to stop him killing the others. Now stand back, I'm going to finish him off."  
  
The attractive android generated a monstrous energy blast in her hands and hurled it downward, directly onto the Hasha. After the debris settled, she and Gohan descended to the ground where their enemy was lying with his eyes closed, inside an indentation in the ground.  
  
"He doesn't have much of a pulse," said Gohan with his hand on the Saiyan's throat. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if he bleeds to death in just a couple of minutes. C'mon, let's check on the others."  
  
A few light slaps to the face awoke Goku, Goten and Trunks. Soon the five of them were making the rounds, waking the others and helping them to their feet if necessary.  
  
Up until this point, Vegeta seemed to be in a state of shock, unable to do anything except stare. Now, however, he returned to normal.  
  
"Where is he?" snarled Piccolo as soon as he awoke. He was the last one brought back to consciousness; everyone else listened carefully for the reply. There was no need to ask who "he" was.  
  
"Slowly and painfully bleeding to death," replied Gohan matter-of-factly.  
  
***  
  
The Hasha no Ankoku lay unmoving. Death was mere moments away, he knew. He had joined the greater number once before and he knew what it was like. There was no doubt.  
  
He could not open his eyes. He could barely breathe. All he could do was lie in this small crater and feel the blood seep from his many wounds into the surrounding ground.  
  
Something fell on his chin.  
  
It didn't feel like one of the pebbles that had been steadily dropping onto him. It seemed softer.  
  
Never had he expended more willpower then he did in the next moment. After a massive struggle, he opened his eyes and focused them on his chin.  
  
On it was a senzu bean.  
  
A new spark flared to life within the dying king. His salvation was mere centimeters away.  
  
He managed to force his mouth open. As he strove to extend his tongue, he distracted himself from the enormous pain by wondering how the magical bean had come to be there in the first place. He supposed that when he knocked out the Namek-whom he had seen distributing them-it must have fallen from his grasp and landed on the edge of the crater, having just now fallen.  
  
He simply had to get his tongue just a bit farther and he would be back in prime form. Then he would destroy them all.  
  
Just a bit farther…  
  
***  
  
"Let's go ahead and finish the bastard off," said Juunanagou. "He destroyed my house, I'll do it myself."  
  
Suddenly a figure leapt out of the crater. It stood on the edge and posed dramatically. It reared its head and shoulders back. Its crimson cape fluttered in the wind. It raised its sole arm in a gesture of defiance.  
  
"Who's ready for round two?" roared the Hasha no Ankoku. 


	8. Afterclap

"NO!"  
  
That was Dende. He was monitoring the fight while Mr. Popo, Chi-Chi, and Videl listened to his running account. Just moments before, when he had announced that the Hasha no Ankoku was bleeding to death, they had been celebrating. Videl and Chi-Chi had even done an odd little victory dance.  
  
Now everyone was simply staring at the Namek, wondering what horrible thing had happened below.  
  
"Dende, what happened?" asked Mr. Popo nervously.  
  
"It's…it's the evil Vegeta. He managed to get a senzu bean…"  
  
Silence reigned.  
  
***  
  
Kuririn, who had long since begun to fly towards Capsule Corporation, halted again. That second Vegeta seemed back up to prime.  
  
That wasn't all, though. There was something he knew was missing, but what?  
  
***  
  
After the initial shock had worn off, everyone presented a united front, staring down the Hasha no Ankoku.  
  
"Individually we managed to wear you down," growled Vegeta. "You have no hope against all of us grouped together."  
  
"That would probably be true," replied the Hasha, "But you're forgetting one tiny detail. You're forgetting what happens when a Saiyan comes back from near-death! Not only am I back to where I was…I am above it! I am far more powerful than ever before. And I have you to thank for it!"  
  
Almost immediately, Goku and Vegeta powered up and hurled themselves at the Hasha, who powered up as well. Mere seconds later, Gotenks rejoined the battle as well.  
  
"This is amazing! If anyone else had done this, I would not believe it. But of course, I am capable of anything!" bragged the evil king as he fought all of them at the same time. It appeared to be an even battle.  
  
Vegeta simply snarled in reply, Goku was silent, and Gotenks kept up a steady stream of boasts.  
  
Mirai prepared to join the fray, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked back to see Gohan.  
  
"Tell me, Mirai," the scholar said, "Just how good of a dancer are you?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Ever watch your 'little brother' whenever he dances?"  
  
There was a pause. And then Mirai grinned.  
  
***  
  
The brawl carried on for a few more moments, when suddenly both Vegeta and the Hasha felt a tremendous plunge in the power they were drawing from the other Saiyans. Also, a huge new ki power appeared, stunning all the fighters into inaction.  
  
A split second later, a golden blur flashed past the defenders of Earth and straight into the tyrant, who went flying at least a mile straight up into the air.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Goku. "You look kinda like Gotenks, but older."  
  
"Don't you see, Kakarot?" growled Vegeta before the newcomer could answer. "This is the fusion of our OTHER sons."  
  
"Indeed I am," said the warrior in the strange, reverberating tone that clearly marked him as a fusion. "I am Gohunks. And now, let us destroy that evil creature once and for all!"  
  
Gohunks rose into the air, followed quickly by Goku and Gotenks. Vegeta attempted to follow as well, but stopped short when he heard his name yelled by Piccolo.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Piccolo tossed him a senzu bean. "That's the only other one I've been able to find. If you get weak, take it. You're our trump card in this."  
  
Nodding, the Saiyan king followed the others.  
  
***  
  
The fusions were the first to reach the Hasha no Ankoku, who had just managed to halt his rapid ascension. They began to play a twisted game of table tennis, smacking him back and forth between them, never giving him a chance to recover.  
  
It wasn't long before the full-blooded Saiyans caught up and began to watch the battle. Vegeta powered down to his normal mode.  
  
"Why'd you do that?" asked a puzzled Goku.  
  
"In case the brats fail, I'm trying to conserve as much power as possible."  
  
"Oh." Goku then followed suit.  
  
After a few minutes, both Gohunks and Gotenks dropped out of Super Saiyan 3. Gohunks proved to be the opposite of Gotenks; Gohunks's hair was purple in the middle and black on the edges, whereas for the younger fusion it was the other way round.  
  
The Hasha was now able to dodge out of the way of their attacks, but still unable to mount a counteroffensive. He continued to simply duck away from their attacks, and soon all of them were a few dozen miles from Capsule Corporation.  
  
The battle dragged on for a while until the evil king found himself immobilized. Gohunks had grabbed his arm while Gotenks did the same to his legs.  
  
"Hold him still, I'll kill this bastard myself!" roared Vegeta. He powered up to his maximum and charged straight at his trapped counterpart, planning to burst right through his chest, much as Goku had done to Piccolo Dai-Mao many years ago.  
  
But once again, blind luck intervened. As Vegeta hurtled closer, both Gohunks and Gotenks suddenly split back into their component selves as the time limit of their fusions expired. Once again free to move, the Hasha wasted no time in zipping off to one side. As he attempted to slow down, Vegeta could do no more than curse as he watched the next series of events from the corner of his eye.  
  
The Hasha grabbed the four half-Saiyans by their hair and hurled them to the ground, sending a monstrous blast of power after them. The resulting explosion did not kill them, but Vegeta knew that they were out of the fight.  
  
As he finally managed to stop, his opposite number blurred and suddenly appeared next to Goku, knocking him unconscious with a chop to the neck before he could summon his power back to the surface.  
  
"So it comes down to this," said the Hasha as Vegeta turned to face him. "It comes down to me and it comes down to you." 


	9. Final Clash

The two kings hurled themselves at each other, meeting in a flurry of blurred limbs. The Hasha has been weakened, but thanks to his recently gained power they were evenly matched. They both knew that the first one to make a mistake would lose.  
  
As the fight dragged on, Vegeta grew angrier, until finally his rage manifested itself in his voice.  
  
"How?" he snarled. "How did you achieve the Super Saiyan so much earlier than I? I put myself through the most strenuous training possible, and still I did not do it before Kakarot returned!"  
  
"Don't make me laugh. A weak-hearted fool like you could never handle such rigors. I bet you didn't even overload the gravity chamber!"  
  
These words hit harder than any of the Hasha's blows. Of course, that explained it. He had not forced Dr. Briefs to build an artificial gravity simulator until they'd been warned about the androids. His counterpart, though, had apparently thought to do so much sooner.  
  
So. By doing so, he had gained power, revenge on both Freeza and Kakarot, and the universe itself.  
  
And he had lost Bulma. Trunks had never even been born.  
  
It was not a fair trade-off, Vegeta knew. The losses far outweighed the gains. He would never admit so in public, but he knew it.  
  
They traded a few more blows, then jumped back from one another. Vegeta could feel the senzu bean in his pocket. He knew that if he took it now, it would give him enough of an edge to secure the victory.  
  
He wasn't going to take it, of course. Healing in-between battles was well and good, but doing so in the middle of a battle went against everything Saiyans believed. Even with the high stakes riding on this conflict, he would not take it.  
  
They resumed the battle, giving no quarter and expecting none. It was so evenly matched that it was almost impossible to believe that one of them could win.  
  
"You're fighting a losing battle," said Vegeta eventually. "We may be stalemating now, but it won't be long before the others are ready to fight again. And then you shall fall. You cannot win."  
  
***  
  
Kuririn flew towards the direction of the two battling Saiyans. He didn't know what he could do, but he had to do something.  
  
***  
  
There were no energy blasts being used in this fight, nothing fancy like the Big Bang Attack or the Torakkingu Taihou. They would not allow each other the time necessary. It was all physical. It wasn't long before they even stopped flying, slugging it out instead on a tall, barren plateau.  
  
And then it happened. As they exchanged blows, the ground beneath Vegeta crumbled and shifted, throwing off his balance.  
  
It was the opportunity the Hasha had been waiting for. Taking advantage of his counterpart's momentary unsteadiness, he began to pound him mercilessly. He struck him in the head numerous times and repeatedly kneed him in the stomach.  
  
The savage beating continued for several minutes, until the Supreme Ruler of Darkness dropped a battered and barely conscious Vegeta off the plateau.  
  
He sneered. "So. Even with the help of all your weakling friends, you were still unable to defeat me. Truly, I am the greatest warrior in all existence. After I have disposed of you, I shall cleanse this planet of all who call it home. And then the rest of this universe shall become mine."  
  
He raised his hands above his head, charging up a final blast of energy. "Any last words?"  
  
Vegeta raised himself slightly on his elbows. He was not looking at the Hasha, but instead beyond him. He coughed up some blood, and then spoke.  
  
"Sometimes friends can come in handy."  
  
The Hasha laughed for a moment--but only for a moment. The look on his face changed to one of horrified shock, as a Kienzan sliced through his back and his chest, flying off into the distance before dissipating.  
  
He looked down. There was a thin line of blood all around him where the disk had cut through him. He whirled, and as he did so, he began to split into two pieces.  
  
A few dozen yards behind him, on another plateau, stood a short man. He had hair now, but the evil king still recognized him as Kuririn. His hand was still raised from where he had formed the Kienzan.  
  
His vision blurring and starting to go black, he fell to the ground. He managed to get out some words.  
  
"So he…did…end up…killing me…after all…"  
  
And then he was silent. 


	10. Side-Effect

After the defeat of Buu, there had been quite the celebration. Everyone had gone to a nightclub and had a good time, even Vegeta, who normally tried to avoid having a good time.  
  
Not this time, however. Everyone had congratulated Kuririn on his perfect aim, and judging by the looks his wife was giving him, he was going to be one lucky midget tonight. After that, however, everyone had simply departed again.  
  
All except one.  
  
"Damn!" cursed Juunanagou. He was sitting on the Capsule Corporation lawn, which still had a rather large crater in the middle. "That bastard destroyed my house, and the good wood to rebuild it with won't be ready for a few more months."  
  
"So where are you going to stay until then?" asked Bulma, who had just finished telling an elaborate lie to the police about some malfunctioning laboratory equipment.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe I'll ask Sis if I can stay with her for a while."  
  
"Hmm…it's pretty cramped at Kame House, I'm not sure if there's even any room."  
  
"Blast. I don't have enough money to spend one night at a hotel, much less several months."  
  
"Well, I suppose you can always stay here, there's plenty of spare rooms."  
  
"I guess I don't have any other option. Thanks."  
  
Vegeta, who had been listening, just shook his head. This was becoming a regular homeless retreat.  
  
***  
  
Later that night, as they lay in bed, Bulma turned to him. "Vegeta, I've been thinking. I've decided that I should leave the fighting to you guys, you have lots of experience."  
  
He looked sideways at her, slightly puzzled. What was she trying to say?  
  
"So I think that tomorrow I'll ask Goku to take me back to Namek. I'm going to wish to be an ordinary, average human again."  
  
There was nothing ordinary about her, but Vegeta held his tongue and let her continue speaking.  
  
"You don't mind, do you?"  
  
"I don't care. Go ahead and do it if you want to. I'll come with you, though. I don't totally trust Kakarot with your welfare." She gave him a poke in his side.  
  
***  
  
The next day, Goku took Vegeta and Bulma to Namek. After explaining the situation to Elder Muri, they collected the Dragonballs and summoned the mighty dragon Porunga.  
  
"Oh great dragon!" Bulma yelled up at the mystical beast. "I wish to be returned to an ordinary human, as I was before I made my previous wishes."  
  
"It shall be done." Porunga's eyes glowed for a moment. "There. It is--"  
  
Screaming interrupted him. What looked like small bolts of lightning were jumping from Bulma to Vegeta, causing the pointy-haired man to shriek in agony. After a few seconds, the odd effect stopped, and he fell to the ground.  
  
"Um…OK…well, I guess you can go now," Goku said to the dragon, who promptly vanished. The seven Dragonballs scattered across the planet.  
  
"Goku you moron!" Bulma shouted. "We still had two wishes! You shouldn't have dismissed him until we found out if something was wrong with Vegeta!" She bent over him and, ignoring his mumbled protests, helped him to his feet. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Weak…I've never felt so staggeringly weak…what the hell was that, anyway?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Maybe it had something to do with our bond." Her face suddenly went pale. "Uh-oh. I can't even feel our bond anymore."  
  
"What? You used to be able to feel it when you were human."  
  
"I know, I know. But I think the wish affected it."  
  
"How?"  
  
In a voice no louder than a whisper, she said, "I think the wish somehow jumped across the bond."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"I think you're human now, too."  
  
He then proceeded to do something he had never done before in the course of his life.  
  
He fainted.  
  
END  
  
***  
  
Well, well, well. I hope you enjoyed this little action story of mine. My next story will be called "The Unexpected Target." For a preview, here are three words: Babidi is back. To find out anything more, you'll have to read the story. Look for it soon.  
  
Before you go, I have several announcements, if you'd be so kind to stay and read them. They're kind of long, so get comfortable.  
  
First of all, I'd like to announce a project that's been percolating for some time now. In cooperation with members of the FLAVA message boards, we are producing a series of radio plays based on the Royalty Series. Imagine those old radio shows like "The Shadow," "The Lone Ranger," or "The Whistler." The scripts will be adapted from these fics, and the cast chosen from posters on the FLAVA boards. The first in the series, "Saiyans On The Road," is almost complete. When it is done I will give you a link. Until then, here's a link to the FLAVA boards. http://pub30.ezboard.com/bflava  
  
Second, I'm holding a fan art contest. There are three categories.  
  
*Original characters. Draw a picture of one or more of my original characters, such as Gohunks, Jennifer, Iroke, any of the new fighters at the Budokai, etc. New versions of characters count as well, such as Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta, Super Saiyan 3 Bulma, Pu'ar in human form, or the Hasha no Ankoku.  
  
*Events. Take a moment from these fics, pluck it from your imagination, and set it down on paper. Whether it's Vegeta being declared champion, Yamcha proposing, or Chi-Chi on the warpath, it doesn't matter.  
  
*Family Portrait. This is the big 'un. Can you draw a picture of everyone currently living at Capsule Corporation?  
  
Send your completed pictures to thanos6@hotmail.com I'll post the submissions on a website. There is no deadline; you can send in the pictures six months down the road of a character or event that hasn't happened yet and I'll still post them.  
  
Well, that's it. Thanks very much for your patience. Also thanks for your continued feedback. Without you guys this wouldn't be worth doing. Look for "The Unexpected Target" sometime soon. Until then, everybody take care of yourself!  
  
-Thanos6 


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